You Are The Reason
by batie-state-of-mind
Summary: Taylor, Rick, and their family. AU. Re-posted with modifications. New chapters are coming soon!


**You Are The Reason**

 *****I decided to re-do this series but start with this chapter because I think it's way better than what I originally posted for chapter 1. I hope I can do this idea justice. FYI: T** **hese chapters will likely not follow a linear order. The chapters are going to jump all around time-wise because that's how I want to write this ha-ha Thanks to anyone who is reading this. Please feel free to suggest prompts/ideas for future chapters. Thanks!*****

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 **Easter Play**

At the Forrester beach house, Taylor and Rick were busy scrambling around, looking for, and even overturning furniture, in their pursuit of the elusive fluffy, feathered tail that was part of Chad's Easter costume. They had to be at the academy in less than forty minutes and it was nowhere to be found.

"Where could it be?" Taylor asked, as she checked under the sofa once again.

"Well it's not in Chad's room, or the hall closet, or the car. We checked all those places – _twice."_

Chad's baby blue eyes welled with tears as he watched his parents charging breathlessly around the living room. "You have to find it," the five-year-old cried. "I can't be a baby chick without a tail!" He then promptly burst into tears. He had practiced his one line _("Happy Easter to one and all!")_ so hard and now it seemed all to have been for nothing.

"Oh, sweetheart, don't cry," Taylor said, dropping the pillow in her hand and moving to her son. She ran her hands gently through his thick, spiky blonde hair. "Please don't cry."

Chad kept crying though, turning to cling to his mother's long muslin skirt. Sensing the tension in the room, the baby broke into tears as well from where she sat in her high chair. Lani's bowl of Cheerios hit the floor, scattering bits of cereal all over the lush carpeting, as she flailed her little fists in hysterics.

"Meltdown alert," Rick said wryly. "What are we going to do?"

Rick went over to their daughter, picking her and cradling her to his chest. Taylor sighed. "I don't know. I guess…" She looked at Chad's scrunched up, little red face. She so hated to disappoint him, or any of her children actually. "Wait! What if – what if we make Chad a new tail?"

Rick nodded. "Why didn't I think of that? Of course! I'll call Hope and have her come up with something really great."

"Unfortunately, there's no time for that. You're just going to have to make one yourself," Taylor said.

"Me? No. You must be mistaking me for one of my siblings. I couldn't –"

"Yes, you can," Taylor said. "For our son, you can."

"Can't you just try, Daddy?" Chad spoke up, wiping at his damp cheeks. Hope and a little wariness shown in the misty depths of his eyes.

Rick smiled indulgently. "You know what? I can do better than try. I will make you the most fabulous baby chick's tail there ever was and you, my son, will be the envy of all the other creatures in your school play."

"What does 'envy' mean?" Chad asked, cocking his head curiously to the side.

"Your Mom will have to explain. I am going upstairs to make that tail!" Rick started for the staircase and then realizing he was still holding Lani, he hurried back to Taylor and handed her their daughter. "I'll be back soon."

"Good luck," Taylor said. She then went to soothe her children's tears as Rick hurried upstairs.

XoXoXo

Twenty-five minutes had passed. They had to be at the school in less than ten minutes. Taylor knew Rick would come through for their son – he always did –but she wondered if it would be in time. Just as she was about to go get him, he appeared at the top of the staircase.

"Do you have it?" Taylor asked. Chad joined her at the bottom of the staircase, looking up at his Dad hopefully.

"Yeah, Daddy, do you have it?"

Rick nodded. "I certainly do." He took the steps two at a time and came skidding to a stop in front of his wife and son. He pulled the tail out from behind his back and Chad gasped.

"Dad, it's so neat!" Chad said, grabbing for the tail which was made of what looked like an old yellow tee-shirt, white glitter and feathers. Taylor guessed that her favorite feather boa had been chopped to bits for this, but she didn't care seeing the way father and son were beaming at each other. Rick looked beyond proud and Chad, admiring and happy.

"Will it work?" Rick asked.

"Yes!" Chad said.

"Okay, let's get it on you and then we'll go, alright?"

"Alright!"

XoXoXo

Taylor smiled widely as she bounced Lani on her knee. She was seated in the second row watching the school play. Her son was dancing and waddling about with the other school children and Rick was on the floor in front of the stage, capturing it all on an expensive, high-tech digital camera. He was such a proud Papa. He waved to Chad and Chad stopped dancing to wave back and say, _"Hi, Daddy",_ which caused everyone in the audience to break into laughter. Taylor joined in.

As the play drew to a close, Lani fell asleep, her soft brown hair fanning out on Taylor's shoulder. Taylor just smiled and even dashed at a happy little tear as Chad proudly recited his line.

"Happy Easter to one and all!" He said. He stepped back and his little best friend Russ grabbed his hand, pulling him into the line as the whole class bowed. Thunderous applause from proud parents, families, and friends filled the auditorium.

Afterwards, Taylor watched her son holding Rick's hand as they chatted with Russ and his parents. Lani was stirring and soon demanded a diaper change. Hope surprisingly offered to tackle the stinky task, saying that she needed all the practice she could get. She gestured to her full belly and smiled knowingly at Thomas.

Taylor thanked Hope and moved over to Chad and Rick. "Mommy, did I do a good job?" Chad immediately asked in between taking bites from a sugar cookie decorated to look like a Spring tulip.

"You weren't just good, Chadwick Forrester, you were amazing!" Taylor enthused. She couldn't resist kneeling down and pulling her little boy into her arms. Though he wasn't so little anymore, she thought with a little pang. He would be graduating kindergarten in June and then he'd be heading off to elementary school. Time just moved too fast. Taylor was afraid to miss a moment of any of this. She had been cheated out of so many moments with Thomas and the twins when they were little and she was presumed dead.

She hugged Chad as tightly as she dared. Rick was filming both of them and Taylor thought how happy Steffy would be to see the video when they uploaded it to the computer tonight for their weekly family Skype chat. Steffy and Liam were in Paris with their twins, running Forrester International together. They were very happy now, every bit as happy as Taylor and Rick were.

She caught Rick's eye and mouthed "thank you". He mouthed back, "What for?"

"For all of this," she said.

She was so thankful, truly, for everything. She was living the life she had always dreamt of. She had once believed that another man was her endgame, her forever, but she was glad to have been mistaken. She never took any of this for granted. Rick had surely given her the happiness she had always sought.


End file.
